The Heritage History Mission

"If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten."—Rudyard Kipling

"Hold you brave Wallace—the English have hanged your best men like dogs."

If you are visiting the Heritage History electronic library for the first time, welcome!
Our library contains
hundreds of entertaining and easily-read history books which were
written for students and history lovers many years ago.
All the illustrations, maps, and other history-related
material on our site were taken from traditional history books and student atlases
that are no longer copyright protected and are available to republish
without cost.

The mission of Heritage History is to make old-fashioned history books, written for the
enjoyment of young people, easily available. The complete text of every book in our
library can be read directly off the website, and both printable (PDF) and
eBook (EPUB, MOBI) formats are available for every book on our website.

We developed the Heritage website with the intention of helping to re-popularize
old-fashioned narrative history. We believe that the current trend of teaching
Social Studies rather than history to young people is unfortunate, not so much
because it is politicized, but because it is boring. Too many students leave
school disinterested in history because it was never presented
in an engaging manner.

At Heritage History, we seek to promote, not so much the study of history as the enjoyment
of History. By making available old-fashioned history, as it was enjoyed as a pastime rather
than studied as a subject, we hope to help reawaken the interest of a new generation.

Story Based History

There are two quite distinct purposes of history; the superior purpose, which is its use for
children, and the secondary, or inferior purpose, which is its use for historians. The highest
and noblest thing that history can be is a good story.—G. K. Chesterton

Most of the books prepared for Heritage History take a old-fashioned, or
story-based approach
to presenting history, rather than an analytical or critical approach.
Our books do not attempt to explain the "underlying forces" that influence
history, or critique ancient notions of human rights, or focus on contrasts
between cultures. Instead they are based simply
on stories that have been retold for dozens of generations
regarding individual characters, important conflicts, and events of special interest. The stories are
connected by simple narrative threads and are shorn of complicated analysis.

Minstrels sang of the famous deeds of heroes.

This approach to history is not our own invention, but was in fact, the traditional approach to teaching
young people history in almost every introductory history book right up until the mid 20th century.
The trend toward
interpreting history as Social Science in
the Universities began in
the 19th century, but it was not until the baby-boomer generation that Social Studies
and historical criticism replaced traditional, narrative history in elementary and secondary schools.

We believe that the modern emphasis on abstract themes rather than fundamental knowledge is
wrong-headed because it encourages students to interpret history before they learn
the most basic facts. The priorities of modern academics are perfectly exemplified by the
instructions for the College board AP World History test. Students are expected to know . . .

The traditional view of history was that students should have a solid grounding
in the stories of history before delving into analysis, but the message students get
from modern colleges is to focus on concepts and don't bother with the details.
This is unfortunate, since it is precisely the riveting tales of exploration and adventure,
palace politics, and critical battles that are of most compelling interest. It is the
stories of history themselves, not abstract "themes", that inspire a love of the subject.

Whatever the merits of this new analytical approach may be, it is much
less interesting to most students than the traditional approach and modern students are
far less knowledgeable about history than their great-grandparents were.
By restoring these well-loved classical histories of yesteryear,
we hope to help restore student Interest in history as well.